AFP - Japan has resumed operations on Friday to try to cool the reactors at the Fukushima plant, where the situation seemed to have stabilized a week after the earthquake and tsunami that killed more than 6,400 confirmed dead.
The balance of the worst earthquake ever recorded in the islands will continue to worsen as more than 10,000 people were officially unaccounted for, police said.
Despite an unprecedented mobilization of 80,000 soldiers and rescue workers, the hopes of finding survivors have almost vanished, especially since a cold snap affecting the devastated area.
For the first time since the crisis began, experts have noted an encouraging development in the central Fukushima, four of six reactors were seriously damaged by explosions and fires.
"The situation remains very serious in the plant. But there was no significant worsening since yesterday," said Andrew Graham, Special Advisor to Director General International Atomic Energy Agency (AIAE).
The situation "has not deteriorated, which is positive.But it is still possible they are getting worse, "he said.
At midday, several tanker trucks equipped with water cannon have started to pour tens of tons of water on the reactor 3 in order to prevent the fuel rods to melt and thus prevent a major nuclear accident.
These operations started Thursday have been "a positive," said a spokesman for operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO).
"Our priority remains the reactor 3," confirmed the government's spokesman Yukio Edano.
In this reactor whose outer structure was destroyed by an explosion of hydrogen, the storage pool of spent fuel, located outside the containment building was damaged.
The bars must be stored constantly submerged under penalty of heat and cause radioactive releases.
Operations are also designed to cool the reactors 1, 2 and 4 and the storage pool of the latter.
Tepco parallel attempts to restore, with temporary power lines, the electricity supply to the plant "to restart the reactor coolant pumps and fill swimming pools."
These systems broke down when the magnitude 9 earthquake and tsunami destroyed the protection of the marine plant built in the 1970s.
If Japan asks, 450 military U.S. nuclear experts stand ready to intervene, said the commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, who said he was "cautiously optimistic" about the developments.
France and Russia have also offered their assistance.
Meanwhile, many cities continued to organize the departure of their nationals present in the area at risk and in the huge megalopolis of Tokyo, located within 250 km of Fukushima.
Those who do not leave Japan find refuge in the south of the archipelago, especially in Osaka, the second city in the country where, for example, Germany has installed a temporary embassy.
The activity has significantly reduced since the beginning of the week in the capital, where many firms operate in slow motion and even the auctions were suspended tuna at Tsukiji, the largest fish market in the world. But no panic has seized the people of Tokyo, who have stored food in case they should be confined to their homes.
The streets of the capital are usually illuminated at night in some areas plunged into darkness due to power limitations."The thriving metropolis radiating and became a city of darkness, scarcity and apprehension," lamented the daily Japan Times.
The government has assured that the operations of aid to some 440,000 victims would be improved to respond to complaints about shortages of drinking water and food.
The cold and snow fell in recent days on the north-east complicate the task of the 80,000 soldiers, police and rescue workers mobilized on the ground.
In the city of Katahama, refugees trying to withstand temperatures fell to 0 degrees in a social center where there is no electricity, no gas, no water."We have flashlights for the night and we we wind up in blankets," he testified Kikuo Nomura, 70.
These extreme conditions also undermine the health of people evacuated the most vulnerable like the elderly and children, of whom 100,000 are homeless, according to the organization Save The Children.
The G7 finance ministers have expressed their solidarity with Japan deciding to take action "concerted" on the foreign exchange market to contain soaring yen.The announcement had an immediate effect: the dollar has fallen over 80 yen in Tokyo Friday, the day after a record at 76.36 yen.
In a speech on the situation in Japan, the president Barack Obama gave the order to conduct a "comprehensive review" of nuclear safety in the United States.
